Shades of Grey
by Different Child
Summary: When Haru walks out of the dojo who does he run into? What happens when that person ends up at his school?


**Greetings.** This is a joint fic between Silver Sailor Ganymede and myself. I just have less stories posted. Please read and enjoy!

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_And he's supposed to be in the higher dan_. Haru could hardly stop himself from rolling his eyes as his opponent fell to the floor for the final time. _It's been too long since sensei actually gave me anyone with any ability to spar with; god knows even Kyo is getting pretty easy to fight against._

He shook his head in exasperation at this. He had begun martial arts training not only as a way to manage his anger, but because it had been a challenge. Of course, it didn't even seem remotely like a challenge to him any more and quite frankly, it was beginning to bore him.

As he walked out of the dojo, Haru walked smack into something, or rather someone, which wasn't surprising seeing as he had lost himself in his own thoughts again. He looked down and saw a girl, about his own age, glaring up at him.

She looked up at Haru. "Umm...hi. Sorry about that." She blushed a little_. I am such an idiot. But he's good. I saw that. He just knocked that guy over. He didn't even break a sweat._

"It's fine," he shrugged, taking her hand and pulling her to her feet. Mentally though, he was relieved. _Thank god she didn't hug me! That would have been pretty hard to clear up, especially in a place like this. Hatori wouldn't have been pleased. He would have had his work cut out for sure._

"Thanks. I saw you in there. You were pretty good. What's your name?" _I would love to ask Sensei more about him._

"Sohma Hatsuharu. And thank you but that really wasn't too good," came his reply. "And your name is?"

"Sohma Sakura. Your welcome and yes you were." She smiled.

He shrugged off the comment. "Well it was nice to have bumped into you Sohma-san, but I really must get going now."

"No need to call me Sohma-san. We are part of the same family. Wouldn't that get confusing? Call me Sakura. I mean it. What should I call you?"

"Call me Haru, Sakura-san," he replied.

She smiled. "No need to add -san. You're being far too polite." _He's so sweet and formal._

Haru was somewhat surprised by this informality, but for some reason he didn't really mind it so much as he would have with most people.

"Do you train here often, Sakura?" he asked her.

"Um...I come as often as I can. I really love it." She replied. _That is true_.

"That's always a good thing, to continue working at something you love," he smiled. "But I suppose you have a lesson now, Sakura. I don't want to keep you waiting for too long."

"Yea. I do. Will I see you around? Maybe?" _Hopefully._

"I'd like to think so," he replied. "Have fun in your lesson; don't let Shishou work you too hard."

"I won't. See you around." She walked in and got ready for her lesson.

"Sakura," Shishou nodded to her as she walked in. "I see you met Sohma Hatsuharu on your way here."

"I did. He seems so sweet. He's quite formal. I had to coax him to call me by my name. He wanted to call me Sohma-san. Weird." She made a funny face and laughed. _I wanted him to be informal. He needed convincing._

At this she noticed Shishou's expression darken somewhat. "He may seem sweet at first, granted the vast majority of the time he is, but just be careful. Sakura, when he looses control, Haru is not someone you would want to be around for too long."

She looked at him. "I see. I don't care. I'd like to be friends with him. I'll give it a shot if he will. I'll be transferring to his school anyway. Mine's gotten a bit too rowdy for my guardian's taste. So I'm transferring. Maybe I'll see him around school? What year is he? I mean I'll only be a first year but still. What about him? I'd really like to have a friend at a new school."

"He's only a year above you so I suppose it will be fine," Shishou replied. "A few others from our family also attend that school, in case you don't already know. Sohma Momiji is a second year while Sohma Kyo and Sohma Yuki are in third. If anything, Yuki is the most likely to look out for you, even if he's rather shy at first."

"Ok. I don't really know a lot of the Sohmas. I mean I live on the outside but there are so many people. I just get kinda shy myself. Plus, they all seem so…so…normal. And they live with their parents in happy little homes and that's just not me. I know from your experience with me that probably seems kinda far-fetched. But yea. I'd really like to make friends that understand me. You know what I mean? Do you think they're the kind of people to understand?" _I hope._ She started practicing.

Shishou nodded in reply. Don't worry, Sakura. _They'll probably understand the situation you're in better than anyone you've met so far…perhaps even better than you do yourself_, he thought.

"You think," she asked as she punched the air.

"I'm quite sure of it."

She smiled. "Good to know." After practicing for a while she went back home and dumped her stuff in her room...hoping her guardian wasn't home yet.

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Sakura's peace didn't last long though, as soon enough the door to the house slammed open and then shut again, signaling that her guardian was home. Sohma Kaoru was not the nicest of men, and, though he wasn't the worst of the guardians she'd had, he certainly came quite close. Sakura sighed and walked downstairs, finding him already sprawled out on the sofa with a bunch of papers littering the coffee table in front of him.

"Go and make yourself useful kid," he snapped as soon as she entered the room. "Then get out of my sight. I have work to get on with and I can't afford you getting in the way of it."

"What would you like me to do sir?" _I wonder what it is this time._

"Go and make dinner before I starve. Some of us work hard you know. Then go away and shut up. I don't have time to look after the worries of kids. They're not paying me to do that."

She went into the kitchen and made a dinner for him_. I can't cook that well. Better than Shishou but still. That's not saying much._ She brought it out to him when it was done. "Here you go sir." Sakura put it down in front of him. "Good night." She walked off to her room and locked the door. _At least he's better than the last one._

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** What **do you guys think of Sakura? The fic as a whole?Just curious. How about you review and tell.  



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